Oke-sepabator



1. NEVILLE.

ORE SEPARATOR.

APPLICATION man JUNE 18. 1921.

Patented Sept- 20, 1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

Gama,

fJ/Verz'Z/e 1.1. NEVILLE.

ORE SEPARAIOR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 18. 1921.

1,391,400. PatentedSept. 20,1921.

2 SHEETS-SHLEI 2.

JJ/VeyZY/e xix UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN J. NEVILLE, OF CLIFTON FORGE, VIRGINIA.

ORE-SEPARATOR.

.7 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN J. NEVILLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Clifton Forge, in the county of Alleghany and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ore- Separators, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to ore separators, and particularly to separators for separating iron ore from non-magnetic materials or magnetism.

1n southwestern Virginia there are large deposits of iron ore wherein the iron is aggregated with flint nodules and standstone. This ore is very refractory and difficult to treat at a profit, though there are large quantities of the ore in this section of the country.

The object of the present invention is to provide means for treating ore of this character by crushing the ore finely and then submitting the ore to the action of a plurality of magnets, these magnets drawing the particles of iron from the crushed. mass but permitting the sand to pass over.

A further object is to provide an improved construction for this purpose including a drum having thereon a series of electro-magnets, the drum rotating above a conveyer belt, the electro-magnets being energized each as it passes over the belt to pick up particles of iron therefrom, and the several magnets being denergized when above a chute so that the particles of iron will fall into the chute and be discharged.

And a further object is to form the belt or conveyer ofor with a series of electro the lower flight, the particles of iron ore will remain attached to the magnets or conveyer while the particles of sand or other foreign matter will drop therefrom, the magnets of the conveyer being then deenergized to cause the dropping of the particles of iron.

Still another object is to provide a second magnet disposed below the endless carrier and rearward of the point where the carrier Specification 01 Letters Patent. P t t t 20 Application filed June 18,

1921. Serial No. 478,704.

is deenergized, this second magnet being in the form of a drum and acting upon the particles which have been dropped from the conveyer to separate the iron ore from the other foreign matter.

Another object is to provide a construction of this character including a supporting frame, a stone crusher mounted at one end of the frame, an endless conveyer upon which the stone crusher discharges, a distributer for distributing the crushed ore in a thin sheet over the traveling conveyer, and provide at the opposite ends from the ore crusher the magnetically acting means heretofore referred to whereby the iron is. separated from the other minerals.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation partly broken away of an ore separator constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan View thereof;

Fig. 3 is an elevation of one end of the drum and of the contact strip 29 coacting therewith, showing diagrammatically the electrical connections;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary transverse section through the drum and. the contact strip 29;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5--5 of Fig. 4; v

Fig. 6 is a transverse section through the drum as in Fig. 4 but showing another manner of forming the magnets;

- Fig. 7 is a fragmentary transverse section. through the drum 26 and contact striptherefor;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary transverse section through the endless element18 showing the magnets thereon and the means whereby these magnets are electrically energized.

Referring to these drawings, 10 designates the frame of the machine which may be of any suitableconstruction and which supports at one end the ore crusher 11. This ore crusher is driven by an electric motor 12, whose shaft 13 is connected either directly orindirectly to the gearing of the ore crusher. The ore crusher may be of any suitable character and I have not illus- .trated any details thereof. The ore crusher is disposed a roller 15 which may be driven in any suitable manner but which is illustrated as being driven by a belt 16 from a belt wheel on the shaft 13. At the other extremity of the frame there is disposed a roller 17, and over these two rollers travels the endless carrier 18. This endless car rier is formed preferably as will be later stated.

Mounted in suitable bearingsat the discharge end of the machine is a drum 19 having upon its face a series of electromagnetically energized, flat, transversely extending strips orbars 20. Thesebars 01 strips are made of soft iron and may be magnetized in a number of different .ways, as will be later stated. This electro-magnet operates in a direction-reverse to that of the belt, that is in a counter-clockwise direction, and the magnets are intermittently energized and de'e'nergized so that as the drum rotates above the belt theparticles of iron on the belt will be picked up by the magnets on the rotating drum, carried upward and over toward the front of the machine and then discharged into a chute 21. Preferably a distributer inthe form of a transversely extendingblade 22 is mounted upon the frame of the machine between the chute 1% and the drum 19so as to cause the finely powdered or ground-up material to be distributedin a thin sheet or layer over the face of the conveyor or carrier.

Preferably the conveyer 18 carries upon it a series of electrically'magnetized plates or strips 36 of soft iron which are intermittently magnetized orde-magnetized, as will be later described, and these strips are magnetized from the point a to the point 6 as they travel around the roller 17 so that at the time when the magnets on the drum 19 act upon the particles of ore, the magnetic strips on the conveyer or carrier are de-magnetized. After the drum has acted upon the material, the magnets 23 are energized so that as the conveyer passes around the roller 17 the non-magnetic particles will fall from the conveyer and be discharged onto a chute 24, while the magnetic particles will cling to the conveyor and remain clinging thereto until the magnets of the conveyer are de-magnetized, whereupon the particles will drop, as for instance into a chute 25. The magnets on the drum 19 and the magnets on the endless carrier will not possibly attract all of the particles of iron ore which may be in the'material and, therefore, I submit the material passing down the chute 24, from which most of the magnetic particles have been separated, to the action of a third set of magnets carried on a drum 26, this drum picking up the magnetic particles from the material passing along the chute 2 1 and carrying these particles over and dropping the particles upon the chute 25, the magnets of the drum 26 being intermittently magnetized and de magnetized, as will be later explained.

It will thus be seen that by providing a plurality of magnets, I submit the crushed ore to the action of a number of magnets so as to remove from this ore as much as possible of the magnetic material which may be therein, and furthermore I do this positively, not by merely deflecting the magnetic particles of ore to one side'butby picking up 'these'magnetic particles and transporting them to the place desired and then by lar means for forming the electro-magnets on the drums 19 or 26 or on the endless conveyer 18. I have illustrated, however, two ways in which these magnets might be energized and deenergized. I have illustrated the magnets for the drum 19 as being T- shaped in cross section'to provide the transversely extending strips or plates '20 and coils 28, each core being provided with a magnetic coil 29. Obviously when a current of electricity flows through the magnetic coil, the core and'th-e corresponding strip 20 will be rendered magnetic and obviously when the current ceases to flow through the coil, the coreand strip 20 will be 'deenergized.

F or the purpose ofenergizing the'magnets 20 from the point c'to the-point (Z, I have shown an arcuate conducting strip 29 (Fig. 3) mounted upon the frame of thefma-- chine to one side of the drum and extending Y from the point 0 to the point d. Thisconducting strip is connected to a source 'of-cur rent, as for instance to the positive pole of a battery 30 or any other'suitab'le source. The opposite end of, each coil 28 may be. grounded. Each coil is engaged at one end with an outwardly projecting pin or contact 31 which engages the strip 29 and-keeps its engagement 'with this strip while this pin istraveling from the point'c to the point (Z. During this period therefore the current is traveling through the coil 28 and the-elec tro-magnet is energized. WVhemhowever,

the'pin 31 passes the contact strip 29, the magnet becomes denergized. Some residualmagnetism, however, will remain in the magnet which might be suflicient to cause the particles to adherethereto and,-therefore, it is best to momentarily cause current to pass through the electro-magnets inan opposite direction to the direction of passage of the current while the pins were in contact with the strip 29, and to this end I mount in the path of travel of the pins and just forward of the end of the strip 29 a contact 32 with which each pin will momentarily contact, this contact 32, however, being connected to the negative pole of the battery so as to cause a momentary reversal of the current through the coils. This reverse current is merely momentary and acts to de-magnetize the magnets.

Another construction which might be used for forming the magnets is illustrated in Fig. 6, where the strips 23 are connected at their ends to cores 33 and surrounded by coils 34, these coils 34 being in turn connected to a common ground at one end and to pins 35 at the opposite end which are adapted to engage the strips 29. Here also the strips 23 will be rendered magnetic as the pins 35 come in contact with the strip 39 and will become de-magnetized when the pins 35 pass the strip 29. The same means as heretofore described may be used for causing a momentary reversal of current through the magnets if desired.

The endles conveyer 18 will also have magnetic strips or plates 36 applied thereto, these strips being substantially T-shaped in cross section and provided with coils 34. These magnetic strips are de-magnetized for the greater portion of travel of the endless conveyer, but each strip is magnetized from the point a to the point Z) by means of a contact member 37 which extends around the shaft upon which the roller 17 is mounted and extends at its ends parallel to the upper and lower flights of the endless conveyer. Preferably this contact will be U-shaped in cross section so as to permit the pins 38, which are connected to the several strips, to pass between the upper and lower webs of the contact 37 and thereby secure a perfectly good electrical engagement between the contact strip 37 and the pins 38.

Preferably, and as illustrated in Fig. 8, these strips 36 are mounted at their ends upon longitudinally extending belts 39. The downwardly extending web of each strip is cut away, as at 40, at the middle of the strip.

to accommodate a sprocket chain 41. This sprocket chain is not attached to the strips but engages a sprocket wheel 42 on the shaft of roller 17, which is smaller in diameter than the roller, and disposed between the two sections of the roller, this sprocket chain passing over a driving sprocket wheel 43 on the shaft of drum or roller 15, thus transmitting power from the drum or roller 15 to the roller 17 without putting any strain upon the conveyer belt formed of the strips 36 and the bands 39. Preferably the strips 36 will be spaced from each other by intervening strips of insulatingmaterial, designated 44.

The drum 26 has magnetic strips applied thereto of the same character as those applied to the drum 19 and these strips are magnetized by contact of the pins on the strips and with a contact strip 38 in the manner heretofore described.

It will be obvious now that the crushed ore falling upon the endless carrier 18 will be distributed thereover in a thin sheet by means of the distributer 22, and that when the conveyer carries this crushed ore beonto the chute 25. The particles which may fall off from the belt as it passes around the roller 17 to the point Z) fall onto the chute 24 and are carried beneath the second drum 26 which picks up any magnetic particles and in turn discharges them onto the chute 25, while the thoroughly separated, nonmetallic particles pass down the chute 24 and are discharged. As before remarked, I do not wish to be limited to the particular manner of forming the electro-magnets or the particular manner of causing these electro-magnets to become energized and deenergized.

This combined separator and crusher may be portable so that it may be carried to any i desired point Where the ore is being mined so that the ore may be crushed at the point where it is being mined and the iron separated from the non-magnetic particles so that only the natural iron ore may be transported to the smelter or other place of final treatment. At the present day it is necessary to transport the ore, which includes large masses of non-magnetic materials, from the mine to the smelter, thus adding very greatly to the cost of production.

I have illustrated the shaft of the roller 17 as carrying band wheels whereby the drums 19 and 26 may be rotated. I do not wish to be limited to this, as obviously they may be driven in any desired manner from the motor driven shaft 13.

I claim 1. An ore separator of the character described including a supporting frame, an endless carrier traveling thereon and supporting a plurality of transversely extending electro-magnets disposed in proximity to each other and each provided with a projecting contact, a drum disposed above the'path of travel of the carrier and in proximity thereto and carrying a plurality of electromagnets mounted thereon, means for energizing the electro-magnets of the drum from a point immediately above the carrier to a point where the electro-ma-gnets are moving downward and forward, and means for energizing the electro-magnets of the carrier from a point on the upper flight of the carrier forward of the drum to a predetermined point on the lower flight of the carrier to thereby cause magnetic particles not acted upon by the drum to be held to the carrier for a predetermined distance as it traverses its lower flight.

2. An ore separator of the character described including a supporting frame, an endless carrier traveling thereon and supporting a plurality of transversely extending electro-magnets disposed in proximity to ach other and each provided with a projecting contact, a drum disposed above the path of travel of the carrier and in proximity thereto and carrying a plurality of electromagnets mounted thereon, means for energizing the electro-magnets of the drum from,

a point immediately above the carrier to a point where the electro-magnets are moving downward and forward, means for energizing the electromagnets of the carrier from a point on the upper flight of the carrier. forward of the drum to a predetermined point on the lower flight of the carrier to thereby cause magnetic particles not acted upon by the drum to be held to the carrier for a predetermined distance as it traverses its lower flight, a chute below the carrier upon which the non-magnetic particles are discharged, and a second rotatable drum mounted in proximity to said chute, electro-magnets thereon, and means for causing theenergizing of said magnets as they come. into proX imity to the chute and deenergizing said magnets to discharge the magnetic particles adhering thereto.

3. In an ore separator, anendless carrier, rollers over which the endless carrier passes, one of said rollers being power driven, the endless carrier comprising two spaced, longitudinally extending belts, transversely extending, metallic, magnetizable strips attached to the belts at their ends, and having cores extending inward, each core beingcut away at its middle, electro-magnetic coils surrounding said cores and terminating each in a laterally projecting pin, an electrically energized contact strip with which said pins are adapted to successively engage whereby to cause the magnetization of the, strips, said rollers being made in two spaced sections, sprocket wheels mounted between the sections of the rollers, and a sprocket chain connecting said sprocket wheels andthereby forming a driving means between the said rollers.

In testimony whereof Iihereunto my signature.

JOHN J. NEVILLE. 

